Charles Bean
Encyclopedia
Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean (18 November 1879 – 30 August 1968), usually identified as C.E.W. Bean, was an Australia
n schoolmaster, judge's associate, barrister journalist
, war correspondent
and historian
.
Bean is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918
. Bean wrote Volumes I to VI himself, dealing with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Gallipoli
, France
and Belgium. Bean was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian War Memorial
, and of the creation and popularisation of the ANZAC legend
.
Bean was born in Bathurst, New South Wales
. In 1889, his family moved to England
where he was educated,
firstly at Brentwood School
in Essex, of which his father was headmaster, then from 1894 at Clifton College
, Bristol, before winning a scholarship in 1898 to Hertford College, Oxford
. He returned to Australia in 1904 and worked as a lawyer
until June 1908 when he joined The Sydney Morning Herald
as a reporter.
as the official war correspondent, narrowly beating Keith Murdoch
. He was given the rank of honorary captain in the AIF and followed closely in the tracks of all the Australian infantry
's campaigns. Bean landed at Anzac Cove
at 10am on 25 April 1915, a few hours after the first troops had landed and he remained on the peninsula for most of the campaign, enduring the same squalid conditions suffered by the soldiers.
As a war correspondent, Bean's copy was detailed, accurate and also dull — he lacked the populist style of British correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
who produced the first eyewitness report from Gallipoli which was published in Australian newspaper
s on 8 May. As the sources for reports increased, papers such as The Age
and The Argus
stopped carrying Bean's copy due to its unappealing style.
In early May, Bean travelled to Cape Helles
with the 2nd Infantry Brigade for the Second Battle of Krithia
. When the brigade
was called to advance late in the afternoon on 8 May, Bean went with them from their reserve position to the starting line, under shrapnel fire the whole way. He was recommended for the Military Cross
after retrieving a wounded soldier but was ineligible as his rank was only honorary. Also under fire, he carried a number of messages to the brigade commander, Brigadier General
James M'Cay, close behind the front line. He made numerous trips across the battlefield, delivering water and helping to bring in the wounded, including commander of the 6th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel
Walter McNicoll
.
On the night of 6 August, Bean was struck in the leg by a stray Turkish bullet, while following the column of Brigadier General John Monash
's 4th Infantry Brigade at the start of the Battle of Sari Bair
. Despite the wound, he refused to be evacuated from the peninsula. He left Gallipoli for good on the night of 17 December, two nights before the final evacuation of Anzac. He would return in 1919 with the Australian Historical Mission.
When the Australian infantry moved to France
in 1916, Bean followed. He continued reporting from close to the front line of all but one of the engagements involving Australian troops, and in that sense saw more action than any other Australian in the First World War. He observed first hand the "fog of war
", the problems in maintaining communication between the commanders in the rear and the front line troops, and between isolated units of front line troops, and problems coordinating activities with other arms of the service (such as artillery) and with allied forces on each flank. He reported on the degree to which direct reports given by front line troops (and captured German soldiers) could be misleading given their limited view of the battlefield and the effect of the shock of fierce fighting and devastating artillery fire.
It was during this period that Bean began planning for the post-war preservation of the Anzac legacy via the establishment of a permanent museum and memorial, and by the collection of records relating to Australia's war effort. On 16 May 1917 the Australian War Records Section
was established under the command of Captain John Treloar
to manage the collection of documents and relics. Attached to the section were members of the Australian Salvage Corps who would select items of interest from the battlefield detritus they recovered for scrap or repair. Treloar was subsequently appointed the first director of the Australian War Memorial in 1920.
He had a 15 pound clothing allowance and spent this on making what would become his 'distinctive outfit.' He was also equipped with a horse and saddlery. Private Arthur Bazley was assigned as Bean's batman
, and the two soon became friends.
Bean's influence grew as the war progressed and he lobbied (along with Keith Murdoch
, father of Rupert Murdoch
) unsuccessfully against the appointment of General John Monash
to the command of the Australian Corps
in 1918. He disliked Monash for not fitting his ideal of Australian manhood (Monash was of Jewish background
) and his promotion of his men — he had earned Monash's wrath for failing to publicise his brigade at Anzac — which Bean viewed as a penchant for self-promotion and wrote in his diary, "We do not want Australia represented by men mainly because of their ability, natural and inborn in Jews, to push themselves." Bean favoured the appointment of the Australian Chief of General Staff, Brudenell White
, the meticulous planner behind the successful withdrawal from Gallipoli, or General Birdwood
, the British commander of the Australian forces at Gallipoli. Despite his opposition to the appointment of Monash, Bean later acknowledged Monash's success in the role, noting that he had made a better Corps commander than a Brigade commander (and as an aside admitting that his role in trying to influence the decision had been improper).
Bean's brother was an anaesthetist and served as a major
in the Medical Corps on the Western Front.
In 1916 the British War Cabinet
had agreed to grant Dominion official historians access to the war diaries
of all British Army
units fighting on either side of a Dominion unit, as well as all headquarters that issued orders to Dominion units, including the GHQ
of the British Expeditionary Force. By the end of the war, the Committee of Imperial Defence
(CID) were less than willing to divulge this information, possibly fearing it would be used to criticise the conduct of the war. It took six years of persistence before Bean was allowed access and a further three years for a clerk to make copies of the enormous quantity of documents. Bean therefore had available to him resources that were denied to all British historians who were not associated with the Historical Section of the CID.
Bean was unwilling to compromise his values for personal gain or political expediency. He was not influenced by suggestions and criticism from British official historian, Sir James Edmonds
about the direction of his work. Edmonds reported to the CID that, "The general tone of Bean's narrative is deplorable from the Imperial standpoint." For his maverick stance, it is likely that Bean was denied decorations from King George V
, despite being recommended on two occasions during the war by the commander of the Australian Corps. Bean was not motivated by personal glory; many years later when he was offered a knighthood, he declined.
In 1919 Bean led the Australian Historical Mission back to the Gallipoli peninsula to revisit the battlefield of 1915. For the first time he was able to walk over ground where some of the famous battles were fought such as Lone Pine
and at the Nek
, where he found the bones of the light horsemen still lying where they fell on the morning of 7 August 1915. He also instructed the Australian Flying Corps, one of the few Australian units involved in the occupation forces in Germany, to collect German aircraft to be returned to Australia; they obtained a Pfalz D.XII
and an Albatros D.Va.
Upon his return to Australia in 1919, Bean commenced work with a team of researchers on the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18; and the first volume, covering the formation of the AIF and the landing at Anzac Cove
, was published in 1921. It would be 21 years before the last of the 12 volumes (Volume VI) was published. Bean personally wrote the first 6 volumes covering the Army involvement. In 1946 he published Anzac to Amiens, a condensed version of the Official History — this was the only book to which he owned the copyright
and received royalties
.
Bean's style of War History was different to anything that had gone before. Partly reflecting his background as a journalist, he concentrated on both the 'little people
' and the big themes of the First World War. The smaller size of the Australian Army contingent (240,000) allowed him to describe the action in many cases down to the level of individuals, which suited Bean's theme that the achievement of the Australian Army was the story of those individuals as much as it was of Generals or politicians. Bean was also fascinated by the Australian character, and used the history to describe, and in some way create, a somewhat idealised view of an Australian character that looked back at its British origins but had also broken free from the limitations of that society.
Bean's approach, despite his prejudices and his intention to make the history a statement about society, was to meticulously record and analyse what had happened on the battlefields. His method was generally to describe the wider theatre of war, and then the detailed planning behind each battle. He then moved to the Australian commander's perspectives and contrasted these with the impressions from the troops at the front line (usually gathered by Bean 'on the spot'). He then went further and quoted extensively from the German (or Turkish) records of the same engagement, and finally summarised what had actually happened (often using forensic techniques going over the ground after the war). All throughout he noted the individual Australian casualties where there was any evidence of the circumstances of their death. Even with that small contingent of 240,000 (of whom 60,000 died) this was a monumental task, particularly as the Australians had been used, much as the Canadians, as shock troop
s by the British command wherever the line was most threatened, or where there was need to mount an attack. Bean also — uniquely — reported ultimately on his own involvement in the manoeuvring around command decisions regarding Gallipoli, and the appointment of the Australian Corps Commander, and did not spare himself some criticism with the wisdom of hindsight.
Bean's style of writing profoundly influenced subsequent Australian war historians such as Gavin Long
(who was appointed on Bean's recommendation), and the Second World War series, describing the battles of North Africa, Crete, New Guinea and Malaya retain Bean's commitment to telling the story of individuals as well as the bigger story. The tradition continued through the history of Australia's involvement in the Korean War, and up to the history of Australia's involvement in the South-east Asian conflicts, currently in preparation (8 of 9 volumes published as of 2008).
Charles Bean played an essential role in the creation of the Australian War Memorial
. After experiencing the First World War as the official Australian War Historian, he returned to Australia determined to establish a public display of relics and photographs from the conflict. Bean dedicated an enormous portion of his life to the development of the Australian War Memorial, now one of Australia's major cultural icons.
It was during the time spent with the First Australian Imperial Force in Europe, that Bean started thinking seriously about the need for an Australian war museum. A close friend of his during this time, A.W. Bazley, recalled, "on a number of occasions he talked about what he had in his mind concerning some future Australian war memorial museum" . Bean envisioned a memorial that would not only keep track of and hold records and relics of war, but would also commemorate the Australians who lost their lives fighting for their country.
In 1917, as a result of Bean's suggestions to the Defence Minister, Senator George Pearce
, The Australian War Records Section was established. The AWRS was set up to guarantee that Australia would have its own collection of records and relics of the First World War being fought. This department arranged for the collection of relics from the field, and the appointment of official war photographers and artists. Many of the numerous relics collected, and photographs and paintings produced, can be seen in the Australian War Memorial today. The quality of paintings from the First World War is attributed in large part to the "quality control" exercised by Bean.
The basis of the building known today as the Australian War Memorial was completed in 1941. The Memorial's website describes the building plan as "a compromise between desire for an impressive monument to the fallen and a budget of only £250,000". Bean's dream of a memorial in recognition of Australian soldiers who fought in the Great War had finally been realised. However, when it was realised that the Second World War was of a magnitude to match that of the first, it was understood that the memorial would have to commemorate servicemen from the latter conflict, despite the original intentions.
The Hall of Memory, completed in 1959, could not have fulfilled Bean's dream of commemoration more completely. It adhered to Bean's view that war should not be glorified, but that those who died fighting for their country should be remembered. Bean's moral principles such as this, and the fact that the enemy should not be referred to in derogatory terms, alongside with many others, greatly influenced the philosophical angle that the Australian War Memorial
has always taken, and would continue to take.
Bean's vision and contributions were vital for the creation of the memorial and historical resource that the War Memorial is today. He was an honourable man with principles, for example, he declined knighthood as he saw the decoration unnecessary.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n schoolmaster, judge's associate, barrister journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
and historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
.
Bean is renowned as the editor of the 12-volume Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918
Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918
The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-1918 is a 12-volume series covering Australian involvement in the First World War. The series was edited by C.E.W. Bean, who also wrote six of the volumes, and was published between 1920 and 1942...
. Bean wrote Volumes I to VI himself, dealing with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) at Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Belgium. Bean was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
, and of the creation and popularisation of the ANZAC legend
ANZAC spirit
The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers possess shared characteristics, specifically the qualities those soldiers are believed to have shown on the battlefield in World War I. These qualities cluster around several ideas, including...
.
Bean was born in Bathurst, New South Wales
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
. In 1889, his family moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he was educated,
firstly at Brentwood School
Brentwood School (England)
Brentwood School is an independent school in Brentwood, Essex, England. Educating boys and girls in a British public school tradition. Brentwood School is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
in Essex, of which his father was headmaster, then from 1894 at Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
, Bristol, before winning a scholarship in 1898 to Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College, Oxford
Hertford College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is located in Catte Street, directly opposite the main entrance of the original Bodleian Library. As of 2006, the college had a financial endowment of £52m. There are 612 students , plus various visiting...
. He returned to Australia in 1904 and worked as a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
until June 1908 when he joined The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Sydney Morning Herald is a daily broadsheet newspaper published by Fairfax Media in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1831 as the Sydney Herald, the SMH is the oldest continuously published newspaper in Australia. The newspaper is published six days a week. The newspaper's Sunday counterpart, The...
as a reporter.
Gallipoli
In September 1914, Bean was appointed official war correspondent with the AIF troops. He was selected by ballotBallot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
as the official war correspondent, narrowly beating Keith Murdoch
Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch was an Australian journalist and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the CEO and Chairman of News Corp.-Life and career:Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1885, the son of Annie and the Rev...
. He was given the rank of honorary captain in the AIF and followed closely in the tracks of all the Australian infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
's campaigns. Bean landed at Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
at 10am on 25 April 1915, a few hours after the first troops had landed and he remained on the peninsula for most of the campaign, enduring the same squalid conditions suffered by the soldiers.
As a war correspondent, Bean's copy was detailed, accurate and also dull — he lacked the populist style of British correspondent Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett
Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett was a British war correspondent during the First World War. Through his reporting of the Battle of Gallipoli, Ashmead-Bartlett was instrumental in the birth of the Anzac legend which still dominates military history in Australia and New Zealand...
who produced the first eyewitness report from Gallipoli which was published in Australian newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s on 8 May. As the sources for reports increased, papers such as The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
and The Argus
The Argus (Australia)
The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
stopped carrying Bean's copy due to its unappealing style.
In early May, Bean travelled to Cape Helles
Cape Helles
Cape Helles is the rocky headland at the south-westernmost tip of the Gallipoli peninsula, Turkey. It was the scene of heavy fighting between Turkish and British troops during the landing at Cape Helles at the beginning of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915....
with the 2nd Infantry Brigade for the Second Battle of Krithia
Second Battle of Krithia
The Second Battle of Krithia continued the Allies' attempts to advance on the Helles battlefield during the Battle of Gallipoli of the First World War. The village of Krithia and neighbouring hill of Achi Baba had to be captured in order for the British to advance up the Gallipoli peninsula to the...
. When the brigade
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
was called to advance late in the afternoon on 8 May, Bean went with them from their reserve position to the starting line, under shrapnel fire the whole way. He was recommended for the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
after retrieving a wounded soldier but was ineligible as his rank was only honorary. Also under fire, he carried a number of messages to the brigade commander, Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
James M'Cay, close behind the front line. He made numerous trips across the battlefield, delivering water and helping to bring in the wounded, including commander of the 6th Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Walter McNicoll
Walter McNicoll
Brigadier General Sir Walter Ramsay McNicoll KBE, CB, CMG, DSO was an Australian teacher, soldier, and colonial administrator.-Early life:...
.
On the night of 6 August, Bean was struck in the leg by a stray Turkish bullet, while following the column of Brigadier General John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
's 4th Infantry Brigade at the start of the Battle of Sari Bair
Battle of Sari Bair
The Battle of Sari Bair , also known as the August Offensive, was the final attempt made by the British in August 1915 to seize control of the Gallipoli peninsula from the Ottoman Empire during First World War.The Battle of Gallipoli had raged on two fronts, Anzac and Helles, for three months since...
. Despite the wound, he refused to be evacuated from the peninsula. He left Gallipoli for good on the night of 17 December, two nights before the final evacuation of Anzac. He would return in 1919 with the Australian Historical Mission.
Western Front
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in 1916, Bean followed. He continued reporting from close to the front line of all but one of the engagements involving Australian troops, and in that sense saw more action than any other Australian in the First World War. He observed first hand the "fog of war
Fog of war
The fog of war is a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding own capability, adversary capability, and adversary intent during an engagement, operation, or campaign...
", the problems in maintaining communication between the commanders in the rear and the front line troops, and between isolated units of front line troops, and problems coordinating activities with other arms of the service (such as artillery) and with allied forces on each flank. He reported on the degree to which direct reports given by front line troops (and captured German soldiers) could be misleading given their limited view of the battlefield and the effect of the shock of fierce fighting and devastating artillery fire.
It was during this period that Bean began planning for the post-war preservation of the Anzac legacy via the establishment of a permanent museum and memorial, and by the collection of records relating to Australia's war effort. On 16 May 1917 the Australian War Records Section
Australian War Records Section
The Australian War Records Section was an Australian military unit of World War I responsible for collecting and preserving records and artifacts relating to Australia's experiences in the war. The section was formed on 16 May 1917 under the command of Captain John Treloar and eventually grew to a...
was established under the command of Captain John Treloar
John Treloar (museum administrator)
John Linton Treloar, OBE was an Australian archivist and the second director of the Australian War Memorial . During World War I he served in several staff roles and later headed the First Australian Imperial Force's record-keeping unit. From 1920 Treloar played an important role in establishing...
to manage the collection of documents and relics. Attached to the section were members of the Australian Salvage Corps who would select items of interest from the battlefield detritus they recovered for scrap or repair. Treloar was subsequently appointed the first director of the Australian War Memorial in 1920.
He had a 15 pound clothing allowance and spent this on making what would become his 'distinctive outfit.' He was also equipped with a horse and saddlery. Private Arthur Bazley was assigned as Bean's batman
Batman (army)
A batman is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.The term is derived from the obsolete bat, "packsaddle" + man....
, and the two soon became friends.
Bean's influence grew as the war progressed and he lobbied (along with Keith Murdoch
Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch was an Australian journalist and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the CEO and Chairman of News Corp.-Life and career:Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1885, the son of Annie and the Rev...
, father of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
) unsuccessfully against the appointment of General John Monash
John Monash
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD was a civil engineer who became the Australian military commander in the First World War. He commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade before the War and then became commander of the 4th Brigade in Egypt shortly after the outbreak of the War with whom he took part...
to the command of the Australian Corps
Australian Corps
The Australian Corps was a World War I army corps that contained all five Australian infantry divisions serving on the Western Front. It was the largest corps fielded by the British Empire army in France...
in 1918. He disliked Monash for not fitting his ideal of Australian manhood (Monash was of Jewish background
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
) and his promotion of his men — he had earned Monash's wrath for failing to publicise his brigade at Anzac — which Bean viewed as a penchant for self-promotion and wrote in his diary, "We do not want Australia represented by men mainly because of their ability, natural and inborn in Jews, to push themselves." Bean favoured the appointment of the Australian Chief of General Staff, Brudenell White
Brudenell White
General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White KCB, KCMG, KCVO, DSO was a senior officer in the Australian Army, who served as Chief of the General Staff from 1920 to 1923 and again from March to August 1940, when he was killed in the Canberra air disaster.-Early Life and career:White was born in St...
, the meticulous planner behind the successful withdrawal from Gallipoli, or General Birdwood
William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood
Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, CIE, DSO was a First World War British general who is best known as the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.- Youth and early career :Birdwood was born...
, the British commander of the Australian forces at Gallipoli. Despite his opposition to the appointment of Monash, Bean later acknowledged Monash's success in the role, noting that he had made a better Corps commander than a Brigade commander (and as an aside admitting that his role in trying to influence the decision had been improper).
Bean's brother was an anaesthetist and served as a major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in the Medical Corps on the Western Front.
Post-war
War Cabinet
A War Cabinet is a committee formed by a government in a time of war. It is usually a subset of the full executive cabinet of ministers. It is also quite common for a War Cabinet to have senior military officers and opposition politicians as members....
had agreed to grant Dominion official historians access to the war diaries
War diary
A war diary is a regularly updated official record kept by military units of their activities during wartime. The purpose of these diaries is to both record information which can later be used by the military to improve its training and tactics as well as to generate a detailed record of units'...
of all British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
units fighting on either side of a Dominion unit, as well as all headquarters that issued orders to Dominion units, including the GHQ
GHQ
GHQ from General Headquarters, may refer to:*a high level military command center, see headquarters**GHQ India - headquarters of the British India Army...
of the British Expeditionary Force. By the end of the war, the Committee of Imperial Defence
Committee of Imperial Defence
The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ad hoc part of the government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of World War II...
(CID) were less than willing to divulge this information, possibly fearing it would be used to criticise the conduct of the war. It took six years of persistence before Bean was allowed access and a further three years for a clerk to make copies of the enormous quantity of documents. Bean therefore had available to him resources that were denied to all British historians who were not associated with the Historical Section of the CID.
Bean was unwilling to compromise his values for personal gain or political expediency. He was not influenced by suggestions and criticism from British official historian, Sir James Edmonds
James Edward Edmonds
Brigadier General James Edward Edmonds CB, CMG was a British First World War officer of the Royal Engineers who in the role of British official historian was responsible for the post-war compilation of the 28-volume History of the Great War...
about the direction of his work. Edmonds reported to the CID that, "The general tone of Bean's narrative is deplorable from the Imperial standpoint." For his maverick stance, it is likely that Bean was denied decorations from King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
, despite being recommended on two occasions during the war by the commander of the Australian Corps. Bean was not motivated by personal glory; many years later when he was offered a knighthood, he declined.
In 1919 Bean led the Australian Historical Mission back to the Gallipoli peninsula to revisit the battlefield of 1915. For the first time he was able to walk over ground where some of the famous battles were fought such as Lone Pine
Battle of Lone Pine
The Battle of Lone Pine was a battle between Australian and Turkish forces that took place during the Gallipoli campaign from 6–10 August 1915. It was part of a diversion to draw attention from the main assaults of 6 August against the Sari Bair peaks of Chunuk Bair and Hill 971, which became...
and at the Nek
Battle of the Nek
The Battle of the Nek was a small World War I battle fought as part of the Gallipoli campaign. "The Nek" was a narrow stretch of ridge in the Anzac battlefield on the Gallipoli peninsula. The name derives from the Afrikaans word for a "mountain pass" but the terrain itself was a perfect bottleneck...
, where he found the bones of the light horsemen still lying where they fell on the morning of 7 August 1915. He also instructed the Australian Flying Corps, one of the few Australian units involved in the occupation forces in Germany, to collect German aircraft to be returned to Australia; they obtained a Pfalz D.XII
Pfalz D.XII
The Pfalz D.XII was a German fighter aircraft built by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Designed by Rudolph Gehringer as a successor to the Pfalz D.III, the D.XII entered service in significant numbers near the end of the First World War. It was the last Pfalz aircraft to see widespread service...
and an Albatros D.Va.
Anzac Cove
Anzac Cove is a small cove on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It became famous as the site of World War I landing of the ANZAC on April 25, 1915. The cove is a mere long, bounded by the headlands of Ari Burnu to the north and Little Ari Burnu, known as Hell Spit, to the south...
, was published in 1921. It would be 21 years before the last of the 12 volumes (Volume VI) was published. Bean personally wrote the first 6 volumes covering the Army involvement. In 1946 he published Anzac to Amiens, a condensed version of the Official History — this was the only book to which he owned the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
and received royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
.
Bean's style of War History was different to anything that had gone before. Partly reflecting his background as a journalist, he concentrated on both the 'little people
Little people
Little people have been part of the folklore of many cultures in human history, including Ireland, Greece, the Philippines, the Hawaiian Islands, Flores Island, Indonesia, and Native Americans.-Native American folklore:...
' and the big themes of the First World War. The smaller size of the Australian Army contingent (240,000) allowed him to describe the action in many cases down to the level of individuals, which suited Bean's theme that the achievement of the Australian Army was the story of those individuals as much as it was of Generals or politicians. Bean was also fascinated by the Australian character, and used the history to describe, and in some way create, a somewhat idealised view of an Australian character that looked back at its British origins but had also broken free from the limitations of that society.
Bean's approach, despite his prejudices and his intention to make the history a statement about society, was to meticulously record and analyse what had happened on the battlefields. His method was generally to describe the wider theatre of war, and then the detailed planning behind each battle. He then moved to the Australian commander's perspectives and contrasted these with the impressions from the troops at the front line (usually gathered by Bean 'on the spot'). He then went further and quoted extensively from the German (or Turkish) records of the same engagement, and finally summarised what had actually happened (often using forensic techniques going over the ground after the war). All throughout he noted the individual Australian casualties where there was any evidence of the circumstances of their death. Even with that small contingent of 240,000 (of whom 60,000 died) this was a monumental task, particularly as the Australians had been used, much as the Canadians, as shock troop
Shock troop
Shock troop might refer to:* Shock troops, troops intended to lead an attack* Shock Troopers, an arcade game* Shock Troops , an album by punk rock band Cock Sparrer, released in 1982...
s by the British command wherever the line was most threatened, or where there was need to mount an attack. Bean also — uniquely — reported ultimately on his own involvement in the manoeuvring around command decisions regarding Gallipoli, and the appointment of the Australian Corps Commander, and did not spare himself some criticism with the wisdom of hindsight.
Bean's style of writing profoundly influenced subsequent Australian war historians such as Gavin Long
Gavin Long
Gavin Merrick Long OBE was an Australian journalist and military historian. He was the general editor of the Australia in the War of 1939–1945 and the author of three of the 22 volumes in the series....
(who was appointed on Bean's recommendation), and the Second World War series, describing the battles of North Africa, Crete, New Guinea and Malaya retain Bean's commitment to telling the story of individuals as well as the bigger story. The tradition continued through the history of Australia's involvement in the Korean War, and up to the history of Australia's involvement in the South-east Asian conflicts, currently in preparation (8 of 9 volumes published as of 2008).
Contribution to the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
. After experiencing the First World War as the official Australian War Historian, he returned to Australia determined to establish a public display of relics and photographs from the conflict. Bean dedicated an enormous portion of his life to the development of the Australian War Memorial, now one of Australia's major cultural icons.
It was during the time spent with the First Australian Imperial Force in Europe, that Bean started thinking seriously about the need for an Australian war museum. A close friend of his during this time, A.W. Bazley, recalled, "on a number of occasions he talked about what he had in his mind concerning some future Australian war memorial museum" . Bean envisioned a memorial that would not only keep track of and hold records and relics of war, but would also commemorate the Australians who lost their lives fighting for their country.
In 1917, as a result of Bean's suggestions to the Defence Minister, Senator George Pearce
George Pearce
Sir George Foster Pearce KCVO was an Australian politician who was instrumental in founding the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia....
, The Australian War Records Section was established. The AWRS was set up to guarantee that Australia would have its own collection of records and relics of the First World War being fought. This department arranged for the collection of relics from the field, and the appointment of official war photographers and artists. Many of the numerous relics collected, and photographs and paintings produced, can be seen in the Australian War Memorial today. The quality of paintings from the First World War is attributed in large part to the "quality control" exercised by Bean.
The basis of the building known today as the Australian War Memorial was completed in 1941. The Memorial's website describes the building plan as "a compromise between desire for an impressive monument to the fallen and a budget of only £250,000". Bean's dream of a memorial in recognition of Australian soldiers who fought in the Great War had finally been realised. However, when it was realised that the Second World War was of a magnitude to match that of the first, it was understood that the memorial would have to commemorate servicemen from the latter conflict, despite the original intentions.
The Hall of Memory, completed in 1959, could not have fulfilled Bean's dream of commemoration more completely. It adhered to Bean's view that war should not be glorified, but that those who died fighting for their country should be remembered. Bean's moral principles such as this, and the fact that the enemy should not be referred to in derogatory terms, alongside with many others, greatly influenced the philosophical angle that the Australian War Memorial
Australian War Memorial
The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
has always taken, and would continue to take.
Bean's vision and contributions were vital for the creation of the memorial and historical resource that the War Memorial is today. He was an honourable man with principles, for example, he declined knighthood as he saw the decoration unnecessary.